A Washington Avenue parking plan initially considered by area stakeholders several years ago is moving forward again, city officials say.

The plan calls for placing new signage and parking meters along the Washington corridor in an area extending roughly from east of Houston Avenue west to Interstate 10.

Also under consideration is a permit-parking system for businesses and surrounding neighborhoods.

"If we get this on Washington Avenue, it will be the first in the city," said Jane Cahill West, president of Super Neighborhood 22, which serves a 12-mile range that includes the avenue and Memorial Park.

The parking plan also calls for creation of a district that would generate funds for mobility and infrastructure improvements.

If approved, the Washington Avenue parking policies, including the parking benefits district, would be administered by Parking Management, a division of Administration and Regulatory Affairs.

The parking benefits district was first explored under the leadership of Houston City Councilman Ed Gonzalez when the Washington Avenue Corridor was under the jurisdiction of District H. It is now being guided forward by City Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, District C.

"Washington is a very dynamic business, entertainment and restaurant area, and with that comes traffic and the concerns people have about parking," Cohen said.

On Washington Avenue, the employees of the street's restaurants, bars and entertainment venues now arrive early and park on the street, West said. Many of the remaining street spaces are used for valet parking.

Patrons take spaces in front of other businesses - impacting their potential customers - or they park in neighborhoods and school parking lots.

"We don't think people operating businesses should be able to use public right of way for their purposes," Cahill West said.

During the last four to five months, Cohen has hosted meetings with neighborhoods, businesses and developers to get their input on the proposed parking plan.

"They've given us some very good points, and we've drafted and redrafted," Cohen said. "Now we're 99.9 percent ready. We have what we say is a final draft."

Cohen plans to present the draft during a neighborhood town hall meeting to be scheduled in September, which could be followed by additional revisions. From there, the draft is expected to go to City Council's Housing, Sustainable Growth & Development Committee and possibly before City Council for a vote in late September or early October.

"Hopefully, we could have it in place by the beginning of the new year," Cohen said.

The parking benefits district, which would be a pilot program for Houston, is modeled after similar programs in Austin and Pasadena, Calif.

"It's been about four years we've been trying to address parking issues with the explosion of growth here," he said. "We're cautiously optimistic about the effects this could have. The devil's in the details."

With that said, Taylor added, he's happy to see momentum in addressing the parking issue.

"Anything we can do to address parking issues on the Washington Avenue corridor will be a positive for the businesses and for the residents," he said.

Saleem Fernandez owns the Washington Avenue Drinkery, 4115 Washington Ave., along with the Drinkery and 5th Amendment bars in Midtown.

Fernandez participated in a parking subcommittee for Washington Avenue in late 2010. He has been asked to join a similar effort more recently, but he said he has lost his drive to get behind a parking district.

The position of a parking district isn't fully supported by all the area stakeholders, he said.

Fernandez wonders how his own bar would be affected by paid parking spaces. He estimates that about one-third of his patrons find free spaces on the street or in the neighborhoods. One-third uses valet parking, and the other third carpools.

"I would be jeopardizing a third of my patrons asking them to pay $8 (estimated meter charge) to park," he said.

Fernandez sees the proposed system as more beneficial to businesses that don't want cars parking directly in front of their locations. And he does see the need for infrastructure improvements, including sidewalk repairs and safe crosswalks.

Keith Edgar, who lives in the Rice Military neighborhood off Washington Avenue, said his community couldn't wait for the city to act.

"Out of necessity, I formed the Association of Washington Avenue Neighbors," Edgar said.

He and about 20 others contribute fees to employ off-duty Houston Police Department officers to provide security for their neighborhood. Before that, Edgar said, he and his neighbors were dealing with drunken business patrons who urinated in yards, flashed residents, fought, and in some instances, fired guns.

"Now, instead of waiting for the fights to happen, we have a police officer out there who can immediately address the issue," he said.

The group, which organized about a year ago, also worked with the city to create a tow-away zone in the neighborhood, where parking permits are required from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. Edgar supports the idea of a parking benefits district that would offset the expenses he and his neighbors have assumed.

"Anything that will decrease the crime we've seen while providing funding for additional police protection would be a huge benefit," he said.

If approved, the parking policies, including the district, would be administered by the parking management division of the city's Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department.